|
Jet
 The beginnings of what would
eventually become Jet can be traced back to St Bede's
Catholic school in outer Melbourne in 1995. Nick Cester had already formed a band when at St.Bede's his path inevitably crossed with that of
fellow student Cameron Muncey whenever music was
on the agenda. A mutual dislike of the school's sports culture cemented
their friendship. Muncey eventually joined Cester's band. During their formative years they
operated under several names, including 'Duosonic',
'Mojo Filter' and 'Hi Fidelity'. Their repertoire
included a mix of You Am I covers and "whatever else was going
'round." At one stage they attended a You Am I concert and threw a
demo cassette of themselves onto the stage, only
to see singer Tim Rogers pick up the tape and kick it back out into the
audience. In the end they're glad of his reaction. They weren't ready.
In 2002, they decided
on the name 'Jet', in honour of Paul McCartney's Wings song from the 1973
'Band On The Run' album. By then the line-up had undergone it's final changes, with Cester's
younger brother joining on drums and vocals and Mark Wilson replacing Doug
Armstrong on bass. Never fans of depressing post grunge rock, they'd
decided to stop performing and concentrate on writing classic rock and roll
songs in the manner of 'Jet'. When they were ready they started performing
again and quickly found they were no longer just performing to family and
friends. The booker for Melbourne's inner-suburban Duke Of
Windsor hotel Dave Powell saw the potential of their pooled vocal and songwriting approach and signed on as their manager.
In October 2002, Jet
released their limited-edition 12" vinyl debut EP 'Dirtysweet'
- named after a T.Rex song this time - on Rubber
Records. The EP attracted considerable interest, with national radio
broadcaster Triple J and before long, internationally as well, as part of
the fever generated by the Vines. Jet found themselves at the centre of a
record company bidding war. Before most Australians had even heard of Jet
or their music they had been signed internationally to a four-album
contract, England's NME magazine was proclaiming
"2003 will belong to Jet", and they interrupted sessions for
their first album to support the Rolling Stones return to Australia. The album 'Get Born' was
produced by Dave Sardy (Dandy Warhols,
Marilyn Manson) at the legendary Sunset Sound Studios in LA.
The album derived
its name from a line in the Bob Dylan song 'Subterranean Homesick
Blues' from his 1965 'Bringing It All Back Home' album. With the
album's classic-era Rolling Stones and AC/DC rock and their aversion
to the dance culture inspiring the songs 'Are
You Gonna Be My Girl?,' (YouTube)
'Radio Song' and 'Rollover DJ', the groundswell Jet had created
with their performances exploded into massive record sales.
The single "Are
You Gonna Be My Girl?",
was voted number one in the 2003 Tripe J Hot 100, achieved intense support
from MTV in America and was also part of two major
worldwide advertising campaigns, for Apple's iPod
and Vodaphone.
At the ARIA awards
ceremony In October 2004 Jet received six awards out of their seven
nominations, including single and album of the year. Eight times platinum
in the end 'Get Born' charted for a year and a half and eclipsed Men At
Work's 'Business As Usual' as the all-time top album by an Australian rock
group. Word-wide the album sold 4 million copies. In the middle of all that
reading Easybeats legend Stevie
Wright's autobiography 'Hard Road' in late 2004 inspired Nick Cester to put together a "supergroup", The
Wrights, to record a new version of Wright's hit 'Evie',
for charity. Nic and Chris also lost their father
to cancer after a two-year struggle.
Jet found it very
difficult to come up with the follow-up album. Inspired by The Band's
'Songs From The Big Pink', they initially rented a cabin in Massachusetts, but only lasted a week in the
cold New
England
climate. Jet then decided to do a 180 and headed to Barbados, but they were unable to get
any work done there either. Finally they settled in in
Los
Angeles with 'Get Born' producer David Sardy
whittling some forty hard-come by tracks down to a final fifteen. A string
quartet was brought in for a number of songs, as well as a full-time
keyboardist.
The result, called
'Shine On' after the Cester brothers' tribute to
their father, was not all that far from what we'd heard on 'Get Born', but
received a battering from the critics, not all of because of what they'd
delivered on record. Australia and the world had fallen in
love with Jet's first album song by song. Now they were being judged on the
whole album immediately. Everything that was loveable first time around,
especially the obvious influences, was now
considered a fault. The band soldiered on regardless, their live
performances always what they did and do best.
In
October 2007, after four hectic years, on the band s MySpace page Nic Cester announced that the band would take a well-earned
break.The first sign of Jet's re-emergence saw their collaboration
with Iggy Pop on a cover of the iconic Johnny O'Keefe single "Wild
One" for celebrate 50 years of rock and roll in Australia. On
December 17 Jet returned to Australia and hometown Melbourne to
play a secret show in Melbourne and debut new material from a
third album in the works. In March 2009 joined a stellar line-up
of Australian music at the MCG and the SCG as part of 'Sound Relief'
the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire relief concert. Jet and Wolfmother
were the only acts to play both venues.
For the release in August 2009 of their third album 'Shaka Rock',
Jet set up their own label Real Horrorshow Records. After the
first two albums were issued internationally on Elektra and Atlantic
'Shaka Rock' will be released through their US manager Allan Kovac's
label Five Seven Music, which has a global deal with EMI Music
who broke the band in Australia. Other Five Seven acts include
Buckcherry, Mötley Crüe and Drowning Pool. The global deal allows
Jet to coordinate marketing, touring, publicity, promotion, sales
and distribution. According to band, for the first time in their
career Jet are in complete control.
|
